BRUNSWICK

W hen the Maine State Music Theatre opens its 55th summer season Wednesday, it will be guided by two longtime theater staffers in a “dual head” management model.

Stephanie Dupal, interim executive director, and Curt Dale Clark, artistic consultant, hope the model — which employs their skill sets as managing director and artistic director, respectively — is one the board adopts permanently.

Dupal and Clark joined talents in October after Steven C. Peterson, executive director since 2004, resigned.

Holding the curtain for the next act is a role Dupal has performed often in 20 years with the theater.

“I started as business manager, then I became general manager, and during that time I’ve stepped in twice while the board ran searches for new directors,” Dupal said this week as the Elm Street office buzzed with opening week excitement.

“But other than dance lessons,” the 1983 graduate of Lisbon High School and University of Maine math major said, “I’ve never been on stage.”

That’s where Clark comes in.

The self-described “farm boy” and Illinois native spent eight years acting in Maine State Music Theatre productions before stepping up when Dupal asked him to assist.

“I love this theater with every inch of my life,” Clark said. “I wanted to do whatever I could do to help.”

What that means, according to Clark, follows an old inside theater joke: “If you’re not doing at least three jobs (in the theater), you’re not worth the money.”

For Clark that’s meant artistic output, development and facilities management.

“With a staff as small as ours, we all have to pitch in and help each other,” Clark said.

Dupal agreed.

“Curt is such an incredible team player,” she said. “He’s willing to get in and do the work, whatever the work is.” That frees Dupal up to do what she does best and that’s run the numbers and keep the books.

Together, what the pair offer is “two voices and two opinions,” Dupal said.

Just before speaking with The Times Record, they met in Clark’s office to go over the 2014 season before the 2013 season even takes the Pickard Theater stage.

“We can’t just choose shows because they are artistically beautiful. Together, Curt and I are thinking about what shows bring artistic beauty to audiences but are also commercially viable and have the potential to be financially successful,” she said.

They are also thinking about the future of Maine State Music Theatre.

“Curt and I have a similar vision of where we want the theater to be,” Dupal said.

Clark, in his time as artistic consultant, says he’s attended 60 to 70 meetings with people in the community and company who have suggestions for improving the theater, but “there are many things about this organization that are not broken. It’s been successful for 55 years,” he said.

“Stephanie and I are taking this summer to see where we’re good and where we might be limping,” Clark said.

The board of Maine State Music Theatre has not yet launched a national search for a new executive director. According to Dupal, they are still in discussions on how they want to structure the organization going forward.

“They’ve given us the season as a try out,” Dupal said, handing Clark a folder as the pair put their heads together on another one of the many decisions to made in the week before the season starts.

Clark, whose acting talents hang on a virtual and alwayshandy tool belt of skills, intoned with mock corporate authority, “Stephanie and I think the same.”

“And we both like lunch,” he added.

rshelly@timesrecord.com